You Can't Buy Contentment or Inner Peace (even if marketing wants to make us think that we can!)

Otherwise known as, "Nothing you Buy will Save Your Soul"
Time to finally dive into this idea, surprised it's taken me this long to be honest, as I often ponder the concept of human existence. Hope I don't cause any spirals of anxiety with this one but I do hope that it's clearly labeled enough that anyone who wants to avoid it, can do so!

0:00 hello!
0:11 Don Juan, played it last week and it's super fun
0:34 Lovecraft quote, discovered through the Pursuit of Wonder
0:58 is this why humans are like this?
2:11 survival does not occupy all of our time anymore
3:28 the fact that our time is limited might not matter
6:03 contentment philosophy hasn't replaced religion
6:20 however, marketing has tried to!
6:46 COULDN'T RESIST THIS JOKE, I'M SORRY
7:07 even the urge to "be more productive"
7:17 true contentment is the secret sauce
7:56 why should we care about this?
8:19 because constant indulging is not happiness
9:14 if we knew our ancestors set us up to be doomed...
9:48 do YOU feel that your desire is driven by existential crisis?
10:23 consumerism might not feel unhealthy
11:16 they're becoming known issues
13:22 I'll still engage in consumerist society
15:34 we have arrived at our title

#existentialdread #nobuy #nobuyyear #consciousconsumerism #shopping

[deesmith]

I strongly believe consumer culture is so strong based on the fact we as humans are incapable of feeling completely content and fulfilled with life, and are always trying to fill an intangible void. When we break it down, our existence is quite pointless. We’re born, maybe have children, bumble around for a bit, then die. When I properly realised this, I became happier, because it gave me the freedom to do more of what I wanted and care less about the need to ‘hustle’ more. I agree with every point you’re making and I am equally surprised this topic isn’t discussed more.

[alexandramirskikh]

My existential crisis is so deep by now, nothing I buy offers relief anymore. That helped me to stop buying. Which in its turn is a relief. 🙂

[Maykono]

That contentmenthelp product placement joke was just too good!! 😂😂😂 and sadly too accurate 😅

[LamaEl-Hanan-pfil]

I see it in a slightly different way

I think we are wired to seek and find connection with ourselves, with others, with nature, with God

And we live a life where we are disconnected from these things—there is a declining emphasis on religion or spirituality, we live removed from nature, we no longer live in close knit communities and we live such busy lives that there is not a lot of room or value placed on solitary contemplation

In the absence of these essential connections we feel empty and unfulfilled, and I think all sorts of addictions—smoking, drinking, consumerism—are desperate and misguided ways of filling those needs

[Nostalgiafairy]

When I was about 7 years old I begged my father for some type of toy like I typically did at that age. The difference was around this time he had just gotten out of a rehab center and told me something that stuck and nagged on my mind basically ever since. He told me something like "if I buy you this toy now, it won't make you any happier overall, you'll forget about it in a week and want something new because it's never enough and things will never make you happy. If I had known that at your age, everything would be different." I insisted he was wrong and of course this was the last toy or object I'd ever want and he bought whatever it was for me and about a month later he asked me about it as I was unboxing a new toy he'd gifted me and of course, I realized the lesson because I had no idea where the toy I was given earlier was and had forgotten about it already. Despite knowing from this time onwards that buying things does not equal happiness or achieve much more than some temporary excitement, it's still hard for me to stop wanting things. I always thought it was because from a young age I've had an addictive personality (which runs in the family) but the older I get the more it seems like a human predicament most of us face. Even knowing how pointless it is to chase happiness with purchases, many of us can't seem to stop. It absolutely feels existential.

[EmmaLemmon]

Yes, I identify with this a lot! I need to start meditating again because it helped me to confront and ultimately enjoy the "nothingness" instead of trying to fill it up with stuff. Thanks for putting these ideas out clearly and relateably. I'll check out Positive Wonder too...

[northern]

Thank you for this deep thought. I've never actually considered that it's the existential dread that might be driving my shopaholic behavior. However now when I consider it that sounds so true.

[Lily]

This might be your best video (yet). It’s so spot on. I’ve talked about this briefly with a very good friend of mine not long ago… how we use shopping as one of our coping mechanisms in regards to existencial crisis, hopelessness about the future and opressive capitalism (this doesn’t even make much sense, but oh, well). And I came to the conclusion that this coping mechanism is almost as detrimental as drugs and other forms of physical harm.

[bthomson]

Checked back in. And glad I did! This one is just plain profound! Moving ever closer but with supreme deliberation from simple but important ideas to more and more deep and consuming( ha! ha! 🙄) ones!

[alcnwonderlnd]

I love exploring my existential dread so thank you for this video! I do find myself consuming more (shopping, youtube, or food) whenever im mentally struggling. Eventhough i know it won't fix the problem, i still find myself indulging in these habits 😂

[wiepiedev]

Your video is thought provoking. It hits close to home... I have to let this sink in and watch your video again..

[seedylee]

makes me think of buddhist's pursuit of living without desire

[dandeluca]

Great video, so interesting to hear your though process on this so-very-broad topic. I agree with a lot you have to say, and I definitely agree that this is a difficult time, a time where a lot of people no doubt are feeling a sort of existential crisis. And for decades in the West consumerism has been promoted and adopted as a way to make us feel a little better about our lives. (And make no mistake, much of what we consume *has* made our lives better, sometimes immesurably so. Refrigerators! Hot showers! Modern life is amazing in so many ways, so we don't want to turn our backs on "stuff", but like you said, we can't expect that stuff to fill every psychological void and ease every psychological tension that we have.

[emilyjensenius]

Here for the philosophy, but the Don Juan clip at the start sure gave me audition flashbacks! 😅

[xCopyAndPasteSkilzx]

I think about death and experience existential dread multiple times a day and am so glad you're touching on this. One of my urges to consume comes from the fear of my loss of youth, which in my opinion is a form of death: the death of my young self. Ie. Won't I, at 70, regret not having worn cute clothes while my body is healthy and young and still traditionally beautiful? Thankfully nowadays I'm trying to do so in a sustainable way, but I still struggle with FOMO.

[meowyimeow]

It's so weird because my husband and I were literally talking about all this last night. Thank you for this video!

[selah]

Wow! Brilliant 🤯🤯🤯 This is such a fabulous episode - wowowowow ! You should also have a podcast and talk about and to people exploring these questions - or just talk to regular everyday pople about it (not the slick dudes who are ‘thought leaders’ 🤢 trying to sell you things) LOVE this episode!

[bthomson]

" The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity! " The best need conviction now!

[luciebradley]

Wow this video goes really deep. It does make a lot of sense but there must be more to it. We are missing something that is over shadowed by consumerism.

[melligolightly]

Sadly, I tend to the extreme side of existential crisis. Due to depression, I often feel an inherent sense of meaningless anyway. But this must not necessarily be only a bad thing. It also touches the things you talk about in your videos. I am not someone who hustles all the time. I also hate bucket lists. Because as you said, of course I want to do certain things and it is nice - but it doesn't define my self worth if it doesn't happen. I used to put so much pressure on myself to achieve certain things (or even to want things others my age want), but now I think that some things don't matter in the grand scheme of things.